At a time when the incumbent administration is arresting peaceful activists, eroding the essence of our democracy and allowing a foreign military to take control of our territory you would want the dominant opposition party – today, being the Liberal Party (LP) – to do its duty properly and hold the government to account.
Sadly, during a week when President Duterte himself ordered the investigation and later arrest of an Australian nun who has devoted her life helping destitute peasants in the Philippines, the LP squandered their chance to score political wins from the administration by having a week full of gaffes themselves.
While on an excursion in Germany, several prominent members of the LP – including incumbent Vice-President Leni Robredo – posed for a smiling photo at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. The memorial is a tribute to the victims of the Holocaust during the Nazi regime, and is meant to be a solemn shrine to remember the atrocities of Adolf Hitler.
For a party that criticizes the Duterte administration’s alleged involvement in the thousands of Filipinos murdered by extrajudicial killings, the LP have seemingly shown indifference to the plight of an estimated six million Jews murdered by the Nazi state.
Those who appeared in the photo, aside from VP Robredo, include Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat (who posted the photo on social media), Liberal Party president and Senator Francis Pangilinan, Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte, Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, as well as former Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.
After rightfully being called out on social media for their flippant actions, members of the Liberal Party dug a deeper hole for themselves by appearing to defend the photo. Another prominent lawmaker of the LP, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, posted this status on Twitter:
You bash VP Leni and the LP for a photo, yet you praise Duterte for the 20,000 EJKs. Are there no limits to your hypocrisy?
— Sonny Trillanes IV (@TrillanesSonny) April 16, 2018
His argument poses a false dichotomy, given that it is perfectly possible to criticize the EJKs which happened under the Duterte administration while voicing criticism for his party-mates’ actions. Another apologist, former Solicitor-General Florin Hilbay, tweeted:
1. Nobody’s perfect. Even the morally upright can make mistakes.
2. The ability to apologize is a sign of credibility.
3. There’s no moral equivalence between an inappropriate photograph & a policy of killing one’s citizens or giving away territories.
Malayo yun mga bes.
— florin hilbay (@fthilbay) April 16, 2018
Hilbay seemingly believes that the criticisms his party-mates earned is merely detractors equating their photo with Duterte’s carte blanche attitude towards the use of force against citizens. The issue is the blatant disregard over the essence of the Holocaust Memorial by the LP members, which make them appear to be hypocrites in their criticisms of the Duterte administration.
Meanwhile, Manolo Quezon – a journalist and former Undersecretary for the communications team of the previous President (and LP member) Noynoy Aquino – showed his inability to grasp why the photo appeared wrong and used the controversy to take a shot at Duterte’s policies instead:
By all means, criticize the Vice President and her partymates for being superficial and unthinking. After all, only she can be held to German democratic standards of propriety and sensitivity the President and his partymates (who refuse to step foot in Germany) utterly oppose.
— Manuel L. Quezon III (@mlq3) April 16, 2018
These individuals all missed the point that the photo taken by their party-mates in Germany is disrespectful and inappropriate – especially for elected politicians who deem themselves to be “liberals” – and that criticizing them for it is fully possible while still being able to call out the Duterte administration’s disregard for basic human rights.
The LP members who embarked on the trip were also scrutinized over the funding of their excursion, given that there were several of them – including their staffers – who took part in it. Many critics speculated that it could be taxpayer-funded but Robredo disclosed that it was fully-funded by a Berlin-based organization, which does not help the widely-held belief that President Duterte’s political opposition are funded by foreign political forces aiming to undermine the country’s sovereignty.
It is also very laughable that the Party claimed they went on the trip to “discuss poverty alleviation strategies“. It is counter-intuitive for taxpayer-salaried officials to spend ostentatiously (regardless of whose money it was) to visit foreign countries to learn how they can help their fellow countrymen escape poverty.
It seems an outreach program in the mountains of Negros island, or a visit to the Lumad communities of Mindanao, would have given them direct answers – rather than “ideas” – of why excessive numbers of Filipinos live in abject poverty.
The only action that the Liberal Party should have taken in light of the controversy was to apologize, which Vice President Leni Robredo did a few days after. The LP congressman who posted the photo online, Baguilat, also correctfully acknowledged how “insensitive”, “disrespectful” and “stupid” their actions were.
Still, it does not excuse the remarks made by their other party-mates who failed to see their errors themselves and seriously casts doubts on the credibility of their Party to act as a bulwark against the Duterte administration’s policy of impunity.
Adding fire to the flames that were engulfing the reputation of the Liberal Party, the sister of former President Aquino – renowned talk show host and former actress Kris Aquino – decided to stir more controversy online by attacking another talk show host, Korina Sanchez-Roxas, who is also the wife of the most recent Presidential candidate of the Party and former Secretary for Transporation, Mar Roxas.
Kris made the post on another social media platform, Instagram, which was intended to be cryptic but was very obvious who the person in question was. The post caption is a mouthful but is basically taking a jab at Sanchez for interviewing Aquino’s ex-husband, basketball player James Yap, on her talk show which she vehemently disapproved.
The feeling of self-entitlement is strong in this post, which shows Kris attacking Sanchez for what the latter does on her own show. What made this post even worse is that Aquino divulged that she was reluctant to endorse Mar Roxas’ candidacy in the 2010 and 2013 elections, and only did so at the request of her brother (former Pres. Aquino), which now makes the Liberal Party’s campaign during those cycles insincere and casts doubt on any of their future political campaign strategies.
Then, in arguably the most detrimental aspect of the post, Kris stated that it is “very clear” to her “why the victorious President was Duterte”. It only strengthens the standing of President Duterte, that even the sister of the Opposition’s most prominent personality, recognizes why he is worthy of being the head-of-state.
While Kris Aquino herself may not be a politician or have never been an elected public official under the Liberal Party’s banner, she is seen as a personality of the LP given her relation to two former Presidents of the Party – her brother Noynoy and her mother, the late former Pres. Corazon Aquino. Whether she likes it or not, she carries the branding of the Liberal Party and therefore has to be cognizant of the fact that her actions reflect on the Party as well.
At a time when the Duterte administration heartlessly detained an elderly Australian nun and are gearing to shut down the tourist island of Boracay – thus decimating the livelihood of so many low-income workers and medium business owners – we expected the political Opposition to perform their mandate and block such actions of the government.
Instead, in a week of gaffes the Liberal Party have proven themselves to be a party of elitists who are self-absorbed in their own worlds that they fail to see the implications of their actions. They are so fixated with their own lives that they are out-of-touch with the needs of the general Filipino populace.
Thus, the country needs to seriously search for another political force that will relentlessly pursue the grievances of ordinary Filipinos to take the lead as our Opposition to the Duterte regime.